Frank Baron (’88) is executive vice president and head of the management solutions group at commercial property-casualty insurance provider Zurich Insurance Group. With more than 25 years of experience, Baron oversees underwriting groups that provide myriad of professional liability errors and omissions coverages to Fortune 1,000 public companies, private and non-profit entities, financial institutions, and healthcare providers throughout the United States and Canada.

In his senior year at New York Tech, Baron took an operations management capstone class taught by a professor from the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences. “This brought together lots of the classes I took at New York Tech,” he recalls. “We looked at how to run a business, identify and overcome challenges, and optimize resources. It gave me a thought process and how to look at the situation while being as pragmatic as possible.”

That experience paid off for Baron’s career—and his ability to create effective teams. “I look for opportunities to take on new and different challenges in my career,” he says. “Having broader experiences makes me better at understanding people and in delivering more creative solutions.” For leaders, he advises: “You always need to be clear, fair, and transparent when setting goals for your team while also taking into account what motivates and inspires them. Some people are invigorated by public acknowledgment, some have different motivations. Spend time with each member to understand what makes them prosper.”

Predictive analytics, Big Data, and a globally connected world offer tremendous opportunities and enormous risks. Baron helps his broad spectrum of clients avoid digital danger by helping them understand how cybersecurity impacts their business. “Cyber crime often has multiple components that can cause a significant amount of damage quickly,” he says. “Companies need to assess the impact immediately and as comprehensively as they can.”

Baron joined the NYIT School of Management Executive Council to help his alma mater elevate its reputation as it worked toward earning AACSB accreditation. The process, he adds, included “a candid assessment of the school and how it is perceived by students, employers, and the broader marketplace.” His contributions included helping to work with the New York City business community to ensure that the content of New York Teck courses meets the demands of the 21st-century global marketplace. “We want to show that a New York Tech degree represents a valuable, practical, hands-on education.”

After years of diligent work, the School of Management achieved its AACSB accreditation in 2015. “It was great to be involved in a process that gives you the ability to impact people’s lives in a very positive, demonstrable way,” Baron says.

Baron is active in humanitarian organizations such as the St. Bernard Project, which helps communities impacted by disasters. He got involved with the group after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and also after Hurricane Sandy to assist severely impacted neighborhoods in New Jersey, Staten Island, and Queens. President Obama recognized St. Bernard’s work, calling it an effective post-disaster recovery model.

Baron is also the executive sponsor and co-founder of the New York chapters of Toastmasters and Emerging Leaders in Zurich’s New York office. Both groups focus on supporting and developing employees throughout their careers as they seek to enhance their leadership, communication, and networking skills. Baron is an advocate for employee development as it is a critical component of attracting and retaining the best people in the world where work/life integration is continuously evolving.